IUCN status: Vulnerable
EPBC Predator Threat Rating: Extreme
IUCN claim: “On the mainland, predation by introduced feral Cat and Red Foxes was the major cause of extinction in the wild”
The tracks of a fox were detected for the first time around the time signs of a local wallaby population disappeared (Lundie-Jenkins et al. 1993). Hare-wallaby was found in a fox scat (Lundie-Jenkins et al. 1993). Hare-wallabies were last confirmed in the Tanami Desert 63 years after foxes arrived (Current submission).
Foxes were not among predators of reintroduced hare-wallabies (Gibson et al. 1994). Hare-wallabies were last confirmed in south-west Australia 30 years before foxes arrived (Current submission).
There are no studies evidencing a negative association between foxes
and rufous hare-wallaby population that has been tested statistically.
In contradiction with the claim, the extirpation record from south-west
Australia pre-dates the fox arrival record, and the the two species
co-occurred in one locale for over half-a-century.
Current submission (2023) Scant evidence that introduced predators cause extinctions.
EPBC. (2015) Threat Abatement Plan for Predation by Feral Cats. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Department of Environment, Government of Australia. (Table A1).
Fairfax, Dispersal of the introduced red fox (Vulpes vulpes) across Australia. Biol. Invasions 21, 1259-1268 (2019).
Gibson, D.F., Lundie-Jenkins, G., Langford, D.G., Cole, J.R. and Johnson, K.A., 1994. Predation by feral cats, Felis catus, on the rufous hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes hirsutus, in the Tanami Desert. Australian Mammalogy, 17(1), pp.103-107.
IUCN Red List. https://www.iucnredlist.org/ Accessed June 2023
Lundie-Jenkins, G., Corbett, L.K., Phillips, C.M. 1993. Ecology of the rufous hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes hirsutus Gould (Marsupialia : Macropodidae) in the Tanami Desert, Northern Territory. III Interactions with introduced mammal species. Wildlife Research, 20(4), pp 495-511.